Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Hope to see you again soon!

Just under three years ago, I started this blog in order to keep in touch with family and friends, share my crafty endeavors (and get some feedback on them), and vent about grad school. Since then I have gotten engaged, gotten married, got a cat, spent 8 months away from my husband, learned to love the desert, done a lot of science and hopefully have grown as an academic. I've also found a wonderful community of like-minded folks to share achievements and frustrations with (and to get fashion advice from)!Lately, the direction of the blog has changed to be more about school but I felt it didn't completely fit given what I originally started this blog for. Plus, there have been things I want to write, but don't feel comfortable doing so knowing that I am pretty easily identifiable.

As I am nearing graduation and looking for a fresh start in my next research project and position, I feel like a new start in blogging is in order as well.So, I'm moving.

There is a lot of fun stuff coming up this year (and beyond!) and I hope you will join me.If you would like the address of the new blog, please email me at Dancingfish1@hotmail.com

Before I go...

A lot of folks already have been tagged so I will try to nominate some that are not...

First the usual rules:1. Put the logo on your blog.2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.4. Add links to these blogs on your blog.5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Quiet

Part of my reasoning for being pretty quiet lately has to do with my own transition. I am going to move the ol' blog. Not really a move but a new blog. More on this when it happens....soon.But first- Blogger or Wordpress? Thoughts advice? I already know Blogger but can be easily swayed. Anybody used both? Really love or hate one or the other? Please let me know in the comments!!

Sunday, July 27, 2008

really?

I let our dog out in the backyard this evening and went about my kitchen business. Dog started barking, as he does when he sees a bike/wants to come in/randomly. Sometimes, I just let him bark it up* to advertise our mean**, giant dog.Tonight, he barked and as I walked to let him in, I heard someone walking by say to the 90 ls German Shepard "Who do you think you're barkin' at?" And it wasn't in a nice awwww-cute-barking-doggie-way either. It was in an oh-yeah? you-want-to-fight? you-dog-you? sort of way.

You know, because it makes perfect sense to talk trash to a fenced in dog that is 2 yards away. Was he going to threaten to kick his ass next? Seriously.

* but never early/late/more than 5 minutes.** not really, but I like that people might think that he's mean when protecting all of our really expensive grad student belongings...

Friday, July 25, 2008

Lazy blogger post

Holy Catfish! I just got slapped with a wet salmon - really - I have not updated this since you last visited... You would not believe how heavy that rock really is.Stupid Global Warming!I am absorbed with learning to play lawn bowls**, waiting for the onshore winds, just generally being the life of the party to anyone unfortunate to cross my path. My day drifts aimlessly from the first cockadoodledoo from the rooster till I run out of alcohol. I am looking at rectifying this but this damned rock is heavy. I totally promise that when the weather turns bad, I will blog more often. Well, I'll try. Unless, of course, the pool with the cocktail bar is heated!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Things I've done this month that are stupid

Tried to take a 90 pound dog to the fireworks. He did ok with the fireworks themselves but the crowds had him trying to jump over a 3 ft high concrete wall.

Fell off my bike....but really, I didn't fall OFF of it so much. My new clipless pedals kept me securely attached to the bike as I rolled to a stop and promptly fell over. The bike landing on me was worse than me hitting the ground. Luckily, I was stopped. Had this happened when I was going downhill (at a reckless speed, according to V), I would be in bad shape.

Baked cupcakes when our kitchen was 97 degrees.

Tried to make chocolate milk with only cocoa powder and milk. I swear I saw Alton Brown do it once, but there must've been more steps involved. I keep reading that milk/chocolate milk is the best post-workout recovery drink. Must buy some chocolate sauce though...

Hmmmm, I wonder what I am forgetting. It seemed like there were a lot more of these...

Friday, July 18, 2008

On rejections

Sure enough, just days after I publicly declared the Summer of Submission, I got my first rejection of the summer as well. ScienceGirl had asked how I dealt with rejections in the comments and I wonder how this post would be different if I were still 'awaiting final decision'...

Anyway, this first rejection is a reject with an invitation to resubmit. So it could be worse. My advisor and others faculty are really excited about this response. They are treating it more like a provisional acceptance, despite the fact that the editor specifically wrote 'this is not a provisional acceptance.' I don't have much experience with publishing and the finer nuances and implications of 'reject and resubmit' vs 'revise and resubmit' are lost on me. Basically, we will be re-reviewed after resubmission whereas a 'revise and resubmit' would just be looked over by the editor and not the reviewers. Please feel free to clarify or elaborate in the comments!

My handling of the paper at this stage all depends on the reviews themselves. In this case, they are helpful, positive and easily addressed. The most difficult aspect will be responding to all within the word limit of the paper. With reviews like these, I am eager to fix the paper and get it back out asap. With bad reviews- those that are nonconstructive and, unfortunately, mean- I have a tendency to sit on them and put off dealing with them as long as possible. My worst review was capped with 'the authors should think deeply about what they might be able to salvage from this work.' That one hurt. It took me a year to return to the paper, but eventually I did and it is in review at a different journal right now.

My rosy outlook on reviews stems from learning more about the process and others' experiences. First, I have now been a reviewer myself. From the other side of the review, you can appreciate the time and effort that (hopefully) goes into the reviews and respect that effort more in your revisions. Second, as it turns out- (almost) everyone gets rejected! My advisor gets rejected. The famous scientist that I idolize and get nervous just thinking about talking to? Yeah- gets rejected! The amazing writer who my lab relies on for a lot of editing? Gets rejected! Knowing this makes it much easier to avoid falling into the anxiety ridden hole where poor reviews are judgements of your ability as a scientist or worth as a person. Finally, I am slowly learning that reviews really do make a paper better and that if you stick to it, you will improve the paper and it will get published. It might have taken 18 months to resubmit that paper after the horrible review but the important part is that it got done. If it gets rejected again, well, I will resubmit again. I recently congratulated a fantastic, well respected young faculty member on her most recent paper. It was an interesting, well written and novel piece of science. She told me she had submitted it 5 times before it got accepted. Persistence will pay off eventually.